To evaluate the effectiveness of the scaled-up ‘Safe Highway’ HIV intervention program among female sex workers (FSWs) in the Terai region of Nepal after a quasi-experimental pre-surveillance study demonstrated the efficacy of the program on a limited scale.

China is currently facing a rapid and widespread increase in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The activities of female sex workers (FSWs) have contributed to the mounting epidemic of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Therefore, this study aimed to assess the HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitude and risk behaviors among FSWs operating in Shanghai China.

We offered voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) for HIV and syphili to women attending three public sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinics in Bangkok, Thailand from May 2004 to June 2006. The testing was performed at either one of three STI clinics in Bangkok or at mobile VCT in the same area as the outreach activity. Six-hundred eighty-four women were tested. The HIV prevalences among the street-based sex workers, brothel-based sex workers and other women in these areas not reporting sex work who tested in the clinics were 45.8% (38/83), 4.2% (10/236) and 9.9% (28/284), respectively.

A key indicator of success of HIV prevention programmes is the number of female sex worker (FSW) sex acts protected by condoms. This measure usually relies on FSW reports, which may be biased. We examined condom availability data in five Karnataka districts to estimate the proportion of FSW sex acts potentially protected by condoms.

Cambodia is internationally recognized for having successfully reduced its HIV prevalence among the general population from about 3% in 1997 to 0.7% in 2009. Sex work played a significant role in the spread of the HIV epidemic during the nineties. Since 1999, HIV prevalence has declined among direct and indirect sex workers, although levels remain high. The 100% condom use promotion strategy has been credited for having played a major role in the decline of HIV.

In China, HIV prevalence among the general population is 0.06%, with the number of infections continuing to increase. At the end of 2009, an estimated 740,000 adults and children were living with HIV (range 560,000‐920,000) and another 105,000 had AIDS. Although infections have been reported in all 31 provinces, it is estimated that 80% of people living with HIV reside in rural areas. The number of new HIV cases was estimated at 48,000 in 2009. Overall, China is still experiencing a low‐prevalence, yet growing epidemic, with some key regions experiencing high‐prevalence epidemics.

CRiSP was done for the first time in 2006, revealing an HIV prevalence of 0.19% in female sex workers (FSW). In 2009, Department of Health commissioned Chinese University of Hong Kong to repeat the CRiSP survey, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Coalition of AIDS Service Organization Sex Industry Sub-Committee member organizations including Action for REACH out, AIDS Concern, Community Health Organization for Intervention, Care and Empowerment, Hong Kong Caritas, Hong Kong AIDS Foundation and Hong Kong Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention. It aims to understand the trend of HIV prevalence among FSW and provide data for planning of prevention activities.

Clients of FSWs serve as potential bridges for HIV transmission from the high-risk FSWs to the low-risk general population, making them a key target for intervention. High HIV prevalence rates among clients in Kaiyuan is particularly alarming given their risk behavior patterns including high rates of partner exchange, low condom use rates, and drug-using behaviors. Innovative interventions are needed to reduce the risk of HIV among clients and reduce the bridge of transmission to the general population.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has a population of 50 million people. The estimated nation‐wide population of sex workers in 2007 was between 40,000 and 80,000 and the population of their clients between 840,000 and 1,400,000 (Table 1). One predominantly qualitative study of female sex workers (FSWs) in Yangon estimated that there were around 100 brothels throughout the city and in various townships (as of 2003).

Until recently, Pakistan was considered as a ‘low HIV prevalence, high risk country’ in relation to HIV. The country is now classified as having a concentrated epidemic, with an HIV prevalence of more than 5% among injecting drug users (IDUs) in at least eight major cities in three of the four provinces and among Hijras sex workers in at least one city. At the end of 2009, it was estimated that were 97,400 people living with HIV and AIDS, with 2,917 patients registered across the country, among whom 1,320 are on antiretroviral drug therapy. The national adult HIV prevalence among the general population remains under 0.1%.